The present invention relates to the production of a design on a flat, arcuate or irregular, non-flat surface. More particularly, the invention relates to method and apparatus for transferring a flat rectangular design onto an image surface, either in a foreshortened circular form on a flat image surface for subsequent formation into an arcuate surface bearing the design in relatively undistorted form, or directly on an arcuate surface.
Multi-colored metal designs have been produced on flat surfaces using conventional photographic masking techniques to allow successive selective etching and/or metal deposition corresponding to each color effected, as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,731,333 to Ko. Such surfaces can then be curved or pressed into a desired shape, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,815 to Johnson. However, this procedure is limited by the extent to which an arcuate surface can be formed without excessive distortion of the design, which would usually be in a flat rectangular-coordinate form.
It is known to applicant to transfer a flat design directly to an arcuate surface by use of a projection and rotation technique, as in applicant's co-pending application, Ser. No. 729,764, filed Oct. 5, 1976, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Producing a Design on an Arcuate Surface." It is further known to applicant to transfer a flat design to a flat surface in foreshortened, polar-coordinate form, and then to form the flat surface into an arcuate surface without any apparent distortion, as in applicant's co-pending application, Ser. No. 733,711, filed Oct. 18, 1976, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Producing a Design on a Flat Surface Adapted to be Formed into an Arcuate Surface." In the first of these methods, subsequent processing takes place on the preformed surface. Accordingly, additional hand labor and equipment are necessary if a manufacturer has been equipped to further process only flat surfaces. In the second of these methods, the flat surface must be reformed after processing first takes place on the flat surface. Both of these methods utilize synchronized motion of the object and the image surface. Both methods produce similar results to those intended herein. The present method is an alternative which does not require synchronization of movement of the transparency and image surface.